He began to question his part in their earlier argument. Was there really anything wrong with Terri, or was he simply paranoid, harassing her with false claims about her behaviour? As he thought of this he began to feel stupid, what if it was nothing and he was scaring her away? He decided that he needed to drop the entire thing - if Terri had something on her mind he should let her deal with it. As long as he is their when she to talk to him, that's all he can do, and its the best thing to do. He was disappointed in himself as he thought of how he would react when people would try to force something out of him, and there he was doing the same thing he despised to his wife. He knew the main reason he had asked her about it was as he wanted her to know he was there for her, but was beginning to think he should give her some space - he didn't want to smother her, not after everything they had been through.
As he reached the end of the lane he began to run full out holding nothing back. He knew he still had over a mile to go but he couldn't slow himself. As he ran faster and faster he felt the weight lift form his shoulders, he felt free, as though nothing could stop him. He wanted to see Terri, he wanted to apologise and hold her and tell her everything was going to be all right. He hadn't realised that the main reason he was going so fast was to see her, he wanted everything to be all right again, and he finally had the hope that it could be.
As he reached their paved driveway he slowed down considerably, and he couldn't help but lock eyes with the empty space her car should be. He stopped completely and his arms hung at his sides, his breathing heavy, his mind confused as to where she could still be, she had been gone hours now. He couldn't deny the fact that he was disappointed that she was still gone, but he tried his hardest not to let it dampen his hopes. He was going to talk to her as soon as she got home and make everything better. He was going to fix thing, he thought. He was going to make sure she believed him, and that they were going to be a family again. He had never meant anything more that he did this, and he had never been more determined to sort something out and move past it.
He sauntered into the house while his legs felt as though he was floating. He headed straight to the kitchen, pouring a cool glass of water and then gulping it down noisily. He looked at the wall clock and saw he had been gone for almost an hour, the time had flew by. He walked down the hallway towards their room for a shower, and couldn't help but smiled as he herd the music coming form underneath Kim's closed door. For some reason it felt so right to him, hearing it - as though things really were back to normal again.
He shook himself out of his thoughts that the music stirred and headed into their room. After a long hot steamy much needed shower and a change of cloths he was wondering around the house feeling lost as to what to do. He wanted Terri to hurry home so he could tell her what he had been thinking about during his run. He was excited, in a way, that for the first time in his life he truly believed he could change his ways and make things right. He wanted Terri to share his hope and enthusiasm in this, and thought she would.
He paced around the living room once more before finally picking up the cordless phone and dialling her cell from memory. He got the answer machine before it rang, and hung up, a slight worry forming in his mind, why wasn't she picking up?
Before he had time to let the dangerous possibilities filter in, the attempts on his family just days ago clear on his mind, the phone rang in his hand. It was Terri. He had got her answer phone as she was trying to ring him at the same time. His relief didn't last long as he herd Terri's shaky voice on the other end of the phone, clearly upset.
"Jack, we need to talk, can you meet me, I'm by the river."
After hearing Jacks response she hung up and wiped at the tears streaming down her face. She was so mad at herself for doing this to him.
Meanwhile Jack had already ran out to the car and started up the engine. His earlier good spirits already dampened, he was now worried if he had left it too late, if Terri had already decided it was over like she did last time. He was scared he wouldn't get a second chance like he did last time, that he wouldn't be able to make things better after all.